Riders who evade fares might select to keep away from paying fines as properly, an MBTA staffer admitted, establishing questions on how efficient a brand new coverage meant to crack down on non-payment might be.
The MBTA Board of Directors voted Thursday to approve a coverage that can set up fines for fare evasion, an offense that’s at the moment frowned upon by the T, however isn’t one thing that Transit Police can challenge tickets for.
“Without establishing any penalties for non-payment, we are in a bit of a bind in terms of our ability to enforce fare policy,” mentioned Lynsey Heffernan, the T’s assistant basic supervisor for coverage and transit planning.
“Currently, if Keolis or the Transit Police were to see a rider who refused to comply with our fare gates, we would not be able to respond in any meaningful way.”
Under the accredited rules, a primary offense would elicit a written warning, adopted by a $50 nice for a second, third and fourth offense, and a $100 nice for any subsequent violations in a three-year interval, in accordance with a board presentation.
In the close to time period, Heffernan mentioned Transit Police could have the authority to challenge citations, however the T can be trying into coaching civilians to offer enforcement help.
However, since fare evasion was decriminalized within the Transportation Bond Bill signed into legislation by Gov. Charlie Baker in January 2021, board member Scott Darling questioned how the brand new coverage could be enforced.
“It says the fine increases as you get more and more tickets,” Darling mentioned. “What happens if you don’t pay the ticket at all, decide I don’t want to pay ‘em? It’s non-criminal.”
Heffernan mentioned that’s a problem the T goes to must proceed to discover. There was some dialogue round marking an offender’s driver’s license for non-renewal, however that raised mobility issues, and was finally not included within the new coverage, she mentioned.
“Those fines would continue to sit there,” Heffernan mentioned.
Source: www.bostonherald.com”